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Lorry hits Nigeria Kogi state market, killing up to 100

Femi — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:18:40 +0000

Up to 100 people have been killed after a runaway truck ploughed into a crowded market in Nigeria.

Officials said 55 people died, but a BBC reporter at the scene, in Kogi state, counted at least 100 corpses.

Kogi state police said the lorry hurtled down a hill at speed, smashing cars and motorcycles then crashing into the market, injuring up to 40 people.

Traffic accidents are common in Nigeria because vehicles and roads are badly maintained.

“I can only confirm that 55 people were killed. The driver of the truck lost control and ran into a group of people moving in a procession along the road,” a senior police officer told AFP news agency.

Poverty Could Imperil the Amnesty in Niger Delta

Femi — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:49:56 +0000

Nigeria — A wary peace has settled over this strategic region, a major world oil supplier and for years a combustible nexus of third world militancy, deprivation and government...

Nigeria militant to give up rockets, gunboat

Femi — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:19:05 +0000

A top militant commander in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta region will surrender rocket launchers and gunboats Saturday in the biggest hand-over of weapons since a government amnesty began two weeks ago, a government official said.

Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, a spokeswoman for the government’s 60-day campaign said commander Ebikabowei “Boyloaf” Victor Ben will surrender along with many of his fighters but could not give exact figures.

“Boyloaf” was the commander of Bayelsa state for the region’s biggest armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. The group said he is free to surrender but that it will not take part in the amnesty because it does not address the region’s problems.

Militancy in the Delta has increased dramatically in recent years. Attacks and bombings have cut Nigeria’s production by around a million barrels of oil per day, allowing Angola to overtake Nigeria as the continent’s top oil producer.